Small Town Near St Louis for Easy Commute

12-03-2019, 08:32 AM

Hi everyone, I am from STL south county and am currently living in Tower Grove South with my SO and our four cats and dog. We are renting a duplex in TGS and really like the house (it is 2 bedrooms at $845 a month), are fine with the area but also looking around before we sign another lease in March. I know it will be hard finding a place that will accept all of our pets.

I work in Bridgeton and he works in Maplewood. I currently have a 30 minute commute to work with a one hour commute home. I wouldn't want to do any longer. He has a 15 minute or less commute.

We do like the area in some ways, I've never lived in the city and it has been cool living in the area and getting to know it all. The park is cool to walk to in the summer, nice farmer's market and events, however we kind of discovered we are mostly homebodies who go out to the occasional dinner but not much else. We hear about a lot of crime in the area and hear gunshots on the regular, and I think I may just want to be somewhere with less crime, though I feel relatively safe most of the time on my street.

We like to be active, he likes to run, and we both like to hike in the woods. We like our peace and quiet and space. My SO does not do well in highly populated areas, he lived in Cape Girardeau for years and liked the small town. I have always wanted to live in a small town closer to nature.

I am wondering where a good area for us may be. Ideally I want to rent a house for under $1,000 or so. We are saving to buy a house currently.

I think Edwardsville, IL is adorable, but I know taxes are high there, and we don't want to be too far away from everyone we know in STL. Both of our parents live in south county. Saint Charles and beyond would work for my commute but maybe not his. The Jefferson county area seems too far for me as well.

My mom lives in south city and loves the STL Hills area and Holly Hills, however we would like to experience a less city-like area, though those areas I think are nice.

Any ideas?

12-03-2019, 05:41 PM

$1000/month will get you a small home in many of the St. Louis suburbs. If you're family is in the south county (and further southern regions) i'd likely recommend Afton or Sunset Hills.

I imagine you could also find a place in unincorporated St. Louis County at that price point, or maybe St. Ann (used to live there for a number of years). I always felt safe in St. Ann, never heard gunshots, and loved it's central location to everything. Eventually, we wanted a larger home, so we moved just west to Maryland Heights.

12-03-2019, 06:08 PM

You might be able to rent a decent house in North County, either Maryland Heights or Hazelwood. That would allow easy access to Sunset Park, Creve Coeur Lake, and Sioux Passage. And you're close to the Katy Trail in St. Charles. You might be able to find a home in old St. Charles also. Either way, he would be able to commute on 170, which can be a nice alternative to 270 on bad traffic days.

I like Edwardsville also. It's one of the most outdoors-friendly cities in the StL area, but the commute to Maplewood would be long. $1000 doesn't get much in Eville either. Traffic always flows better on the Illinois side, but the distance would be 20+ miles to Maplewood. Collinsville might be a good choice, as its a shorter commute than Edwardsville.

The most difficult issue for you...is that your workplaces are relatively central and will therefore require some commuting if you don't want to live in a busy area. And long commutes do take their toll. I used to drive 30 miles each way, so I understand that.

12-03-2019, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RisingAurvandil View Post

You might be able to rent a decent house in North County, either Maryland Heights or Hazelwood.

Not sure what search engine the OP will be using, but I did a quick zillow search at $900-1200/month rent. St. Ann and East seems to be the limit at the upper end of the price point. With numerous listing sitting at $1100+. When I wasn't sure if I'd sell or rent our old home, i'd basically decided on $1100-1200/month myself. Which would have covered the mortgage, taxes, and funded a maintenance account. That was for a 1100 SF ranch, sitting on a half acre with a 3 car detached garage...probably could have gotten more, but that number seemed solid.

And to be honest, the $1000/month homes in St. Ann are smaller (2 bed room, sometimes 3 - with 850-1000 SF).

12-04-2019, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flynavyj View Post

Not sure what search engine the OP will be using, but I did a quick zillow search at $900-1200/month rent. St. Ann and East seems to be the limit at the upper end of the price point. With numerous listing sitting at $1100+. When I wasn't sure if I'd sell or rent our old home, i'd basically decided on $1100-1200/month myself. Which would have covered the mortgage, taxes, and funded a maintenance account. That was for a 1100 SF ranch, sitting on a half acre with a 3 car detached garage...probably could have gotten more, but that number seemed solid.

And to be honest, the $1000/month homes in St. Ann are smaller (2 bed room, sometimes 3 - with 850-1000 SF).

Yes, I know I can't afford to rent a house in Maryland Heights with our budget (I used to rent an apartment for almost $800, one bedroom). I would really like to be in the 8-900 range, 1,000 tops.

I would love to live in a small town community in my dreams, unfortunately this seems unrealistic for the most part, unless I were to get a different job. I just do customer service right now, most of those jobs are going to be in the city limits I feel, unsure what I want to do long term, almost finished with a degree in communications, that is a different story/problem...

Collinsville may be doable, though I think on Niche they get a C in crime, better than TGS which gets a C-... I could talk to my SO about going more west like St. Charles or so, and see if the commute would be too much for him. Going too far southwest may be too far for me, I could do Fenton but any more further south seems far.

Right now I am thinking Overland, St. Ann, the Richmond Heights/Brentwood/Maplewood/Rock Hill/Webster groves areas, as well as STL Hills, Hampton area. I am using Zillow and most of the options for houses under $1,000 rent are in the city, well within 270. There are lots of good houses, though. Ultimately I know wherever I live is what I make of it anyway.

Game Gonofferand

Small Town Near St Louis for Easy Commute

Menu Halaman Statis